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Monday, 17 February 2014

42. His Thoughts.

"There are 21 million people in slavery as we sit here now...I hope that, 150 years from now, our ambivalence will not allow another filmmaker to make this film" - Steve McQueen on accepting his BAFTA for Best Director of critically- and commercially-acclaimed film, 12 Years A Slave.

This evening's BAFTAs have brought a multitude of ideas and thoughts and opinions to the front of my mind which cannot (unfortunately) be distilled into one eloquently-written essay (but will serve inspiration for upcoming commentaries within this project, no doubt). Instead, I shall direct you to the thoughts of writer Musa Okwonga's on one of the most talked-about films of 2013/2014, 12 Years A Slave.

An excerpt of his essay, and link to the original New Statesman-published piece, is below:

"As I wandered out into the foyer, I stopped to speak with an elderly black steward, who saw me out with a smile and a slow shake of the head. “Ha,” he said, offering perhaps the most fitting review that 12 Years A Slave will receive. “I don’t like to watch such things.” Me neither: but if we're not yet fully aware of the extent of slavery's evil both past and present, then, perhaps, watch them we must."